Welcome to our first newsletter
"One World". This is a monthly publication dedicated to providing
you with knowledge and information to raise your awareness about sustainable
development issues facing us in the contemporary world.

Most of the issues discussed
are from within Australia, however as the theme is "One World" we will
be providing information from all over the world.

We understand that you are very
busy, so the information we provide you is comprehensive, concise and
apposite.

We are a an independent consulting
group and we are not affiliated with any religious or political organisations.
In fact, we pride ourselves on our religious and political irreverance.

Our mission is to raise
your awareness on sustainablity issues throughout the world, through
independent, factual information, helping you can make the right choices
to empower yourself in the uncertain times ahead.

Our information is sourced
from a range of sources including journals, white papers, media articles
and websites from around the world, to ensure you get a wide cross-section
of articles, that are interesting, informative and most importantly
balanced and as factual as possible.

So, sit back and enjoy the
reading. If you know someone that may be interested in this newsletter
please forward it to them. If you enjoy our newsletter and would like
to receive it every month please subscribe to it as it doesn't cost
anything, however we do rely on your support to keep it going and worth
our while to keep producing the best publication we can.

With Regards

Tobi Nagy
Director of SDS Consulting

P.S. If you have any information
regarding sustainable development issues that you would like to see
published please forward it on or send it to us via email.

1.
What is Sustainable Development?Sustainable Development is a much used "buzz word", loved
by Government bureaucracies. But what does it mean to you and your business?

For too many years large businesses, run by "bean counters", have only
focused on the bottom-line of returning a profit for their shareholders
at the expense of their greatest asset people. Moral and social responsibilities
have all but vanished, with the current point being James Hardie Corporation.
Bottom Line profits have been detrimental to environmental, social and
cultural responsibility by these corporations. However, things must
change!

The ramifications of which, over the
last forty years, have seen a shift in wealth, which has lead to increased
poverty worldwide, through mechanisms such as globalisation and World
Bank debt. All this in the name of development, trade and our desire
to have cheaper consumables to deal with our status anxiety. The Brundtland Commission (1997) defined Sustainable
Development as: "Development, which meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs".
At its heart is the simple idea of ensuring a better quality of life
for everyone, now and for generations to come. The concept of sustainable
development has been around for a number of decades.

Why do we need sustainable development?
The need for development is as great as ever, but future development
cannot simply follow the model of the past. This is true for the world
as a whole, and for every community in this country.
The global picture is alarming. A quarter of the world's people survive
on incomes of less than US$1 a day. A fifth have no access to health
care. A huge challenge already, it may seem, it is only becoming harder;
whilst the world's population is increasing and will increase by half
again, (another three billion people), by 2050.

So what do we need to focus on?
Although the idea is simple, the task is substantial. It means meeting
four objectives at the same time:
1. Social progress which recognises the needs of everyone;
2. Effective protection of the environment; (After all we still need
to breathe fresh air and drink clean fresh water)
3. Prudent use of natural resources;
4. Maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment.

Quadruple Bottom Line (QBL)
For businesses the QBL has become a powerful defining factor for operation
this century. The quadruple bottom line takes into consideration the
following factors:1. Environmental
2. Social3.Cultural (including governance)
4. Economic.

Some say that sustainable development
is dead with the current wave of conservative ideals and economic prosperity
throughout the world. A "What's In It for Me" (WIIFM) attitude.
However this is only the current paradigm for this cycle.

After all, if environmental, social and cultural factors are not considered,
then business operation cannot be sustained. Industrial growth can never
be sustained over long periods, due to its cyclic nature and
as all resources are finite. Mathematically it is impossible. This may
account for why the average length of time Australian Companies stay
in operation is only 12 years.

If you own or run a business, now is
the time to take a stand for QBL principles and your environmental responsibility
through waste minimisation, energy analysis, reduced rework and handling
through quality plan implementation and an increase in social responsibility
to increase morale, reduce absenteeism and improve overall work performance,
for example. Governments of the day must also stand up for cultural
responsibility through good governance and a wider understanding of
people's needs, desires and goals in life.

Not only will you live up to your environmental
and social responsibilities, but you may also save money through increased
efficiency and productivity, and hence, increase your bottom line anyway.

2."Water, Water everywhere, but not a drop
to drink"Fresh water, or rather the lack of it, is Australia's biggest environmental
challenge it currently faces.

Scientists recently have suggested that Sydney, at its current water storage
level, has only three years of supply left. This
has made the Carr Government jump to action by looking at the feasibility
of building a desalination plant. A $350 million dollars pilot program
is already under way at Kwinana in West Australia, which will be powered
by gas. Victoria is also looking at the feasibility of building such a
plant. Is this the way to go?

The lack of fresh water is not just Australia's
domain. From studies of worldwide water supplies, summarised in the
table below, indicate that less than 0.3% is accessible freshwater,
with only 0.01% available through freshwater lakes, the majority of
which are man-made reservoirs built for drinking supplies.

3.
Sea
ChangeAustralia's love of
coastal living is leading to some serious environmental problems, as
more and more Australians are choosing to build along coastal areas.
This is leading to the leaching of acid soils, which is degrading our
coastline, marine life and infra-structure.
Australian coastal soils have a high Pyrite content and when disturbed
through excavation and construction is leading to the natural production
of sulphuric acid, which is then washed down to the rivers and sea causing
heavy environmental damage.
What is Pyrite?
Pyrite (FeS2) is a common mineral found in soils around the coast of
Australia. It is brass yellow in colour and has a metallic lustre. In
industry, Pyrite is used to manufacture sulphuric acid (H2S04), which
is widely used in the production of fertilisers, steel, explosives and
petrochemicals.

In soil Pyrite is relatively
benign, but when disturbed and exposed, it reacts with oxygen and
water in the environment to produce sulphuric acid. One tonne of pyrite
gives 1.6 tonnes of sulphuric acid.

How much Pyrite do we have?
Australia has some 40,000 sq km of coastline and CSIRO research has
estimated there is one billion tonnes of pyrite in Australia's coastal
soils, potentially leading to serious environmental degradation in the
near future as our coasts are opened up to more and more development

What are the effects of sulphuric acid on the environment?
Sulphuric acid is toxic to aquatic life and organisms and can destroy
infrastructure leading to costly repairs. It is known to:

Kill fish

Release potentially dangerous
arsenic and aluminium in shellfish such as oysters, which are later
consumed

Eat away at concrete bridges,
structures and footings

Eat away at road structures
and steel structures such as bridge pylons.

What are we doing to fix the problem?
The CSIRO are undertaking studies to map where the reactive soils occur.
They are determining what are the properties of the soil, then mapping
key "hotspots".

Some State Governments are
putting planning policies in place to limit the development of these
key sensitive areas.

Where the damage has already
occurred, state governments are rehabilitating the soils and the environment,
which is extremely costly.

Government Policies
Victoria, Queensland, NSW and South Australia have government planning
policies in place.

The South Australian Government
has only put in place limited "fringe" policy and needs
to address the issue on a broader scale.

In West Australia, Northern
Territory and Tasmania no such policies exist.

As an island country, it is imperative
that these planning policies are introduced in key sensitive areas.
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is a large task and already in parts of Cairns and South
Australia, small areas are costing millions of dollars to repair.

4.Child Sex Tourism
Imagine if half of Australia's entire population was forced into the sex
industry?

It's hard to imagine, yet around 10
million children - mainly girls - are subject to forms of sexual exploitation
worldwide.

That's equivalent to half of Australia's
entire population. A further one million children enter the commercial
sex trade each year.

Sexual exploitation of children is
one of the darkest abuses in our world. Some children are directly
involved in commercial sexual activity, while others are subject to
abuse while working as domestic servants or in other forms of labour.

It is devastating, but not inevitable.
Strong measures are beginning to bring positive outcomes for vulnerable
children worldwide.
In many countries there is a large domestic market for commercial sexual
exploitation of children. In most areas the largest demand comes from
locals.
Sadly there is also an international market for the sexual services
of children, where visitors from richer countries visit poorer countries
to exploit children. This is known as child sex tourism.

More than 250,000 sex tourists visit
Asia each year, with 25 percent coming from the United States, 16
percent from Germany and 13 percent from both Australia and the United
Kingdom.

Both girls and boys are exploited,
though girls are more often victims. Most offenders are men, although
women can be involved.

Tourism doesn't cause child sexual exploitation,
but it does increase opportunities for it to happen. It's easy for tourists
to dismiss sex with children as a 'bit of fun' while on vacation.
Often travellers feel they exist outside the rules of their own country
as well as those of the one that they're visiting. But what they are
doing is exploiting vulnerable children.
Poverty plays a huge role in this fuelling sexual exploitation of children.
When families are struggling to find enough to eat, children or their
parents may be lured by the promise of cash or the opportunity of a
job.

Children may also be victims of family
breakdown or homelessness, drawn into the sex industry as a means
of economic survival.

Children are generally more vulnerable
to commercial sexual exploitation in poorer countries. Their rights
are not adequately protected and laws preventing their exploitation
are often not enforced.

Well-organised child sex industries exist
in the poorer nations in Asia, Africa and Central and South America.
More recently industries have also emerged in Eastern Europe and the
Pacific.

Unfortunately, as authorities crack down on abuse in one country, sexual
exploitation including child sex tourism often moves to another with
fewer legal measures against it.
The rights of children
The commercial sexual exploitation of children is universally condemned
as an abuse of human rights, banned under international conventions
including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Sexual exploitation violates children's
rights to protection, development and even survival - for example
in cases where children contract a disease like HIV/AIDS.

Children suffer both from the consequences
of forced and unsafe sex, and associated harms like threats and beatings,
confinement, and a lack of healthcare or education.

It's shocking to realise how many
Australians are involved in child sex tourism. It's also a reminder
of our need to take responsibility for the issue.

In 1994, a law was passed making it
illegal for Australians to have sex with children overseas.

There have been several successful prosecutions,
but it may also have made offenders act more cautiously. However, the
extensive publicity surrounding the prosecutions has raised public awareness
and sent a message that child sex tourism is not tolerated.
There are also organisations working hard on the issue. World Vision
is running public awareness campaigns in countries such as Cambodia,
Thailand and Costa Rica aimed at potential child sex tourists visiting
those countries.

Child Wise is another Australian organisation
working at home and overseas to end child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Gradually, child sex tourism is being tackled by the tourism industry,
governments and independent organisations devoted to ending the practice.
The World Tourism Organisation has a clear code of conduct against child
sexual exploitation.

But individuals also have a part to play.
People can ask their local travel agent if they're aware of the issue
and have trained their staff to deal with approaches from potential
offenders.

Australians can report offenders to the
Federal Police on 1800 813 748 or Child Wise on 1800 991 099, which
can lead to prosecutions.

Finally, the link between poverty
and the sexual exploitation of children can be addressed.

An increase in Australia's foreign aid
budget, and donations to overseas development programs, can change the
situation that sees impoverished children tricked or forced into exploitation.

Material in this page was drawn from the work of Child Wise. Further
information on Child Wise can be found at www.childwise.net.

5. How to survey your marketResearch is the cornerstone
of any successful marketing and sales effort.
So how do you conduct market research into your product or service?

Thorough market research provides a great deal of information about
potential and existing customers, competition, and the industry in general.
It allows you to determine the overall feasibility of a business before
making a substantial investment in the venture. Failure to conduct market
research is like driving a car with a dirty windshield. You may not
see what's ahead of you until it's too late.

The purpose of market research is to provide relevant data that will
help solve marketing problems your business might encounter. This is
absolutely necessary in the start-up phase. Conducting thorough market
surveys is the foundation of any successful business. In fact, strategies
such as identifying specific segments within a market and creating an
identity for your product or service that separates it from your competitors,
would be impossible to develop without market research.

Market research allows you to:

See if a market exists for your product
or service.

Define the size of the market you've
identified.

Identify typical customer characteristics.

Analyse market trends.

Keep tabs on your competition.

Give your customer what they want,
as opposed to what you want to give them.

Realistically set your pricing structure.

The market research process can be broken
down into specific stages:

Determining the problems that must
be solved.

Determining which problems require
research.

Listing the goals and objectives
that market research will help you to achieve.

Identifying the type of data that
you need to gather to meet those goals.

Planning the method you will use
to acquire the desired information.

Defining the sample audience that
will best provide you with the information required.

Conducting your market research and
gathering the information.

Analysing the data.

Finally, you will need to develop conclusions
based on the information gathered, and determine a course of action.

How to do a market survey
There are four primary research methods you can use for gathering information.
They are:
1. The historical method - which relies on past data to define current
conditions. This is particularly useful when seasonality (factors such
as school holidays or religious holidays) affects your business.
2. The observational method - which uses current data to predict future
conditions.
3. The experimental method - which tests the effectiveness of specific
marketing activities.
4. The market survey - which is by far the most prevalent research method.

A thorough market survey will help determine a reasonable sales forecast
for your business and help you determine the best area in which to locate.

Basic steps to assess market
Here are the basic steps you need to take to assess your market and
make a forecast:
1. Determine the area(s) in which you would most like to locate your
business.
2. Where are your customers coming from?
3. Study the population within this area to determine its social and
demographic attributes.
4. Take into account the size, family structure, age of residents and
projections of age and type of resident likely to be there in the next
5 to 10 years.
5. Determine the area's socio-economic characteristics.
6. Look at things such as the buying power of residents, common occupations,
lifestyle, marital status, education, religion, culture, preferences,
etc.
7. Determine the present number of similar businesses in the area or
surrounding areas and estimate sales volume and customers for the type
of products or services you want to offer.
8. Estimate the proportion of the total sales volume and the total number
of customers you could realistically obtain by locating your business
in the area.

Step 5 is extremely important. Opening your business in a particular
area does not guarantee additional business volume; it may simply redistribute
what is already there.

6. What
does and doesn't sell onlineUnfortunately, selling online is
not as simple as merely offering your existing products and services
on your website.
Before you create your website, you must have something to offer your
customers. As many dotbomb businesses
discovered, not all products and services are attractive to the online
consumer. Additionally, your products have to be presented in a way
that appeals to the customer, as well as providing a profit for you,
of course. As a result, you have to consider:

What doesn't sell
well online

What does sell successfully

How does this relate
to your existing business?

Products that don't
sell well over the Internet are frequently those requiring some interaction
by the buyer before a purchase is made.Buyers
are reluctant to purchase online if they think this will inconvenience
them in anyway.

Consequently, products
which don't sell are generally those that: Need to be touched, smelt,
held, handled, tasted, etc in order to assess their worth

Are not accompanied
by sufficient information to reassure the customer about quality

Are not as convenient
to purchase online as they are offline.

Are not accompanied
by a convenient way to return the product if it proves unsatisfactory

Dress fabrics are
a good example. A fabric purchaser usually goes through a process of
touching, weighing, comparing colours, and assessing how the fabric
hangs before making a final decision. They are unlikely to consider
online fabric shopping.

However, this does
not mean that all fabrics can't be sold online. Bulk quantities of fabric
may well sell successfully if the buyer has used or previously had samples
of the fabric.

What does sell
online?On
the other hand, the most successful products and services are those
offering the consumer a benefit.
Frequently, they are:

Unique or usually
difficult to locate products

A known brand
or product

Are accompanied
by considerable additional information to aid decision-making. This
is particularly true for more expensive items, such as electronic
and other types of technology.

Convenient to
buy online. Make buying convenientBecause today's pace of life is
so hectic, people value anything which makes their lives easier. Most
people will often take the easiest course of action when making a
purchasing decision, even if this means the product ends up costing
them slightly more than they would have paid elsewhere.

Convenience,
therefore, is often the key as to why and where people choose to shop.It
is unlikely consumers will change their existing shopping patterns unless
they feel they will gain considerable benefit from doing so.

You should be
able to analyse what will only sell if your customer can see, feel,
touch, smell or taste, etc.

On the other
hand, some products, such as fruit and vegetables, are so common that
the item can be chosen without any physical interaction.

For instance, there
has recently been an increase in grocery "stores" online because
most shoppers are used to the different products available. They don't
need to feel an orange to know what it is or check the labels on the
back of health foods, and feel confident purchasing these items online.

Now that you
have a better idea of what does or doesn't sell online, you should consider
your own products and services.

Analyse the products
or services you want to offer online.

See if there
is any way in which you can add value to them so they'll be more attractive
to your online customers.

Once you have
an idea of how the online shopping experience works, there are steps
you can take to help improve your chances for Web success.

Try and put yourself
in the position of an online customer and see if you can work out
what they will need to know in order to buy from you.

Remember that
convenience is an overriding factor.

Online fruit and
vegetable stores, for example, are successful if they make it convenient
for their customers to shop through their website.

Identify any
product that is likely to appeal to an online customer.

You can then assess
whether you need to go one step further such as offering your products
cheaper than your competitors or guaranteeing next day delivery, etc.

Put yourself
in the position of the customer and analyse how you, as this customer,
would justify making a purchase.

Perhaps you could
offer free delivery to customers within a 20 km radius as an added
incentive to buy.

A report presented
by Cyber Dialogue shows that free freight and delivery is the third
major reason why some online businesses attracted repeat customers.

The first two
factors were security of information and price.

Make a list of
your current products and see if they could fill a "niche market".

Try and work
out if:

They would usually
require on-the-spot assessment

They are a known
quantity

They are hard
to find elsewhere

Any of them
would appeal to a select market who will go out of their way to purchase
these products

They can be
"value added" to make them more attractive online.

However, this is
still a preliminary process as a number of additional factors have to
be taken into consideration. The aim is for you to consider what products
are worthwhile offering to your internet customers.

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